LONDON, Feb 10: Foreign Office Minister Peter Hain said on Saturday that Britain was a staunch ally of the United States but would not be its “patsy” on the world stage.

In a speech to the left-wing Fabian Society, Hain said that Britain would stand firm if US unilateralists opted for isolationism over cooperation in the “New World Order”.

Hain, the Foreign Office Minister for Europe, also said it was far from certain that nations that signed up for the US-led war on terror would remain steadfast if the agenda broadened.

“Being a steadfast ally of the USA doesn’t mean being a patsy,” the outspoken minister said in prepared remarks.

“Otherwise how ... could Britain have been able to develop good relations with Iran, Syria and Cuba; reopen an embassy in Libya; and establish good relations with North Korea? Or stand up for the Kyoto Treaty on climate change,” he said.

Hain told the audience that the September 11 attacks on the United States had made a “seismic” impact on the world, which had allowed for unlikely new alliances.

“Its aftermath has also opened up the prospect of an entirely New World Order based upon ‘progressive internationalism’ which promotes new global partnerships, crossing old ideological frontiers and burying old enmities. “It is far from certain that all those countries signing up to the international action against al Qaeda will also sign up to a broader progressive agenda,” Hain said.

Hain said that some US voices also threatened to derail the fragile alliance by seeking to go it alone.

“There are still elements in the USA who want to act unilaterally rather than multilaterally, in isolation from, rather than in cooperation with, other nations,” he said.

“Which way it goes is to some extent in our hands,” Hain said, citing Britain’s membership of the Group of Eight leading nations, the European Union, NATO, the Commonwealth and its permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council.

He said Britain would continue to press for cuts in US and Russian nuclear arsenals and a comprehensive test ban treaty and would work through Europe to bring about change.

“By deploying the European Union’s influence and huge resources, its potential as a catalyst for progressive change, we can promote an international agenda of which the left should be proud,” Hain said.

Earlier, the European Union’s external relations commissioner, Chris Patten, accused the US administration of pursuing an “absolutist and simplistic” foreign policy.—Reuters